Beekeeping
Small-Scale Beekeepers
Our beekeepers move their hives around Myanmar from one region to another seasonally, 4–5 times per year. Sagaing region is the main honey production area, producing over 60% of Myanmar honey.
We collect jujube honey and multifloral honey from Sagaing from September to November. Then, our beekeepers move to Shan State for wild sunflower, sesame and multifloral honey. Depending on production, they will also go to Magway, Mon, Bago, and Mandalay region.
We work with over 100 beekeepers, providing training and new technologies to create sustainable growth. We support micro finance, beekeeping management, techniques, and inputs to improve quality and production.
We have expanded our bee field distribution network with more than 20,000 beehives around Myanmar to produce quality honey while complying with good beekeeping practices.
Beekeeping is the main family business for some of our partners. 20-25% of our beekeepers are women working together with the support of their family.
More than 60% are young, active, and energetic. They are willing to develop their business with hard work, learning continuously the current trends of beekeeping practices.
The top beekeepers have nearly 1,000 hives in their business while small scale farms have 100 hives. The average per apiary is 50–100 hives.
Honey Regions of Myanmar
We collect honey from many parts of Myanmar. Jujube is the main type of honey production. Other varieties are wild sunflower, canola, niger, boneset, kapok, pigeon pea, coriander, wildflower, rubber, spiderwort, sunflower, sesame, and multifloral.
For export, industrial, and table grade, we mostly collect from central, northern, and southern regions of Myanmar.
Central region of Myanmar, mainly Sagaing State, is the dry zone covered with a large forest area. We can get mainly jujube honey from Monywa region of Sagaing State at the end of monsoon season, starting from September to November.
The hills of Shan State are very famous in Myanmar. The beautiful scene, the breath-taking view, the fully blooming flowers, and the famous place are the most attractive reasons to many travellers. From above 2,000 feet, we can collect delicious honey from wild sunflowers and various flowers starting from the winter region, November to January.
1
Sagaing region:
Located in central Myanmar this is a very dry zone area with hot weather and covered with forest. We can collect jujube honey from the end of monsoon (September to November).
2
Hills of Htee Gaink, Kathar Town
This area produces honey from niger nectar (harvested January to February) and wildflowers (between March and April).
3
Hills of Kalay city:
This is the origin of our special bottled 100% sunflower ripened honey (February to March).
4
Shan region:
We can collect niger, wild sunflower, and mustard nectar from the city of Pindaya, Heho. The beautiful hills of this region in northeast Myanmar have blooming flowers from November to January.
5
Magway region:
Another dry zone where we collect some types of jujube (September to October), sesame (July), and wildflower honeys.
6
Mon region:
Located in southern Myanmar, here we collect rubber honey in Kyaik-hto, Bee-lin area (from end February to early April).
7
Mandalay region:
The central zone of Myanmar and its ancient capital. From the city of Pyaw-bywe, Yamethin, Pyinmanar, we collect wildflower honey (September to January).
Honey Harvest
Harvest is from September to June according to the nectar varieties. All the beekeepers migrate from one place to another according to the flowering season of Myanmar.
Our beekeepers place the bee frames in the desired area for honey collection.
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Beekeepers remove the bee frames and thin wax layer that seals the honey cells with a long, sharp knife heated by steam
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The bee frame is inserted into a centrifugal extractor in the field. It can hold 8-12 frames at a time. It is manual using air flow extraction as electricity is limited in field areas
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The honey is collected in a bucket and poured through a filter to remove big impurities, and into a tight drum
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The collected honey is sent to our local collecting point. We collect several drums then truck them to our HACCP certified factory in Yangon for further processing
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At the factory, the honey drums go into the raw area collection zone which is strictly clean for sampling for lab analysis
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We process lot by lot through filtering and vacuum dehumidification in the clean and tight process room, in line with international standard machines and HACCP hygienic guidelines